The communicator button on his suit lit up. It surprised him. Who would be communicating with him now? He clicked it to accept the message.
A familiar face stared back at him. "Shiro?"
"Keith."
"What's going on...I…" Keith was about to tell him about his discussion with Lance, but something stopped him. Lance had been acting weird, and talking about Shiro, so maybe it was best to try to figure out what that had been about before telling Shiro anything.
"Keith, there's been...well...a fight."
"What?"
"Look...I need you to come back to the castle." Shiro paused. "Permanently."
"Wait, Shiro, what's going on?"
"Just finish up whatever you're doing with the Blade and come back, alright?"
"Shir-" The communication cut out before Keith had finished saying, "-o?"
Keith was left with a terrible feeling in his stomach. Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
It took a day and a half for Keith to finish up his work for the Blade. It took another half of a day for him to reach the Castle. The entire time Keith hadn't been able to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he would toss and turn or was wracked with nightmares about what could have happened to make Shiro call him back.
The castle greeted him by opening its hangar for Keith to land in. He hopped out of his ship and pulled off his helmet the moment he was able to.
Allura greeted him with a hug. "Keith, I'm so glad you're here."
He studied her face. She looked weary, as though she had gotten as little sleep as he had the past couple days. That was concerning, but not the worst case scenario.
Keith looked up at the lions. All five of them were there, and looked to be in perfect condition. There was no visible damage to any of their hulls, only a few scratches here and there that were just from the hazards of flying around in space.
Red stared down at him, just as perfect as always. He noticed that Red had a few more scratches than the other lions. He'd have to talk to Lance about being more careful with her.
He was comforted to see Red there with all of the lions. The worst of Keith's nightmares had proven to be untrue, and a sea of relief washed over him. He hadn't wanted to put words to his fears and jinx them into truth somehow, but now he wouldn't have to.
"Allura, what's going on? Shiro mentioned something about a fight, but that was all he said."
"Ah...well, yes I suppose that's true. We've all been waiting for you to be able to discuss it. Lance is...well...he's gone."
Keith's throat was suddenly dry. Red was in the hangar, that was supposed to mean Lance was alive, right? "G-gone?"
"Oh, Keith." She saw the sudden fearful look in his eye, and squeezed his shoulder. "It's not like that. It's, well, come to the common room. Shiro will tell you about everything."
Keith tried to get himself to relax on the walk there. He breathed deep breaths, but the anxiety continued to ramp up in his veins. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears.
Everyone was waiting inside the common room, but instead of the usual chatter there was nothing but silence. Shiro stood with his arms crossed, frowning. Matt was frowning too. Coran looked upset, and for the first time Keith could remember his mustache looked unkempt. Pidge was patting Hunk on the back, it was clear Hunk had been crying. His eyes were puffy.
Keith zeroed in on Lotor. He was the only one in the room that looked completely calm. He was sitting on the couches, nonchalantly filing his nails. Keith noticed a fading bruise under his eye.
Keith cleared his throat. "Alright, I'm here, can someone please tell me what's going on?"
The team looked up at him. None of them looked in good enough condition to be having a long conversation. So it was hardly a surprise when it was Lotor who answered, not bothering to look up from his nails. "Lance left."
The team shot Lotor a glare.
"What do you mean he left?" Keith asked.
This time it was Shiro who answered. "We had a fight, and then a couple mornings ago we woke up and he had left."
"No, Lance wouldn't just leave. He promised me-" It suddenly felt too personal for Keith to tell them that Lance had told him he would look out for all of them. He swallowed.
"Well he DID leave. So now we have to deal with that, okay?"
Allura led Keith to a seat on the couch. "I don't get it." He sunk into the cushions.
Allura responded softly. "Shiro said some things he didn't mean, and Lance took it personally. He left with one of the smaller ships. We don't know where he went, but his note made it clear he wasn't coming back."
Pidge added loudly, glaring at Shiro while still patting hunk on the back. "Shiro told Lance that he shouldn't be a part of Voltron."
Keith inhaled.
Shiro, for the first time in Keith's memory seemed defensive. "I apologized right afterward, and told him I didn't mean it."
"He to-ook all his stuff. W-e don't even have anything to re-member him by." Hunk's statement was wracked by sobs.
"Look, team. I know this is sad, but we've got to keep ourselves together. We're in the middle of a war, and could need to fight the Galra at any moment. We have to be prepared." Shiro's voice was back to its normal commanding leader tone.
"Can I see the note?" Keith's voice was quieter than he meant it to be.
Wordlessly, Shiro handed it over.
"
Thanks for everything, everyone, but it's time for me to leave Voltron.
These past few days I've figured out that my own goals aren't aligning to Voltron's anymore. I'm not who I was a few months ago. I'm going to find my own path in the universe now. Don't be too mad at Shiro, he was right. If I can't trust him than I shouldn't be a paladin.
Give Keith a big hug from me, let him know I kept Red's seat warm.
I'm not coming back. Good luck with fighting the Galra, i know you'll win.
Sorry about leaving like this, but I knew if I left during the day you all would find a way to stop me.
Lance
"
The note had his name at the bottom, but something about it felt so unlike him. Maybe it was the part about giving Keith a hug. Keith couldn't remember Lance ever giving him a hug, not that he would have minded. Maybe it was a message?
But the rest of it felt so stiff and uncharacteristic of him. Although, the conversation Lance had with Keith a few days before had also felt strange for Lance. Had Lance really unravelled this quickly?
Keith thought back to right after Shiro had come back. Lance had come to Keith's room and asked him if he should be the one to leave team Voltron. Keith had noticed Lance's doubt in himself. In that moment Keith had seen just how much Lance needed Voltron.
Could Lance's insecurities have gotten so bad so quickly? It wasn't impossible. Lance was good at pretending to be fine, even happy. He constantly lifted the team's spirits up. Maybe they'd all neglected how much Lance needed someone to lift his spirits up too.
Besides, if the note wasn't Lance's, what other possibility was there?
Keith wracked his brain to recall the conversation he'd had with Lance only a few days before. Lance had said that Shiro hadn't sounded like Shiro. What had he meant by that? It was possible he was talking about Shiro's criticism of him, but Lance had sounded too serious for that.
The only other possibility was that this was some plan of Lotor's. Lance had said that Lotor was up to something. What if Lance had gotten a bit too close to the truth?
Lotor wouldn't be able to get rid of Lance on his own, not with how many eyes were watching him. He would have needed an inside man.
Keith's eyes subconsciously flicked to Shiro.
If Lance had been right, Keith would need to investigate. He had to be careful about it.
"Okay," Keith said, still looking at Shiro, "I agree with Shiro, we need to be prepared."
Keith silently vowed to figure out what had happened to Lance, and save him from whatever fate. Lance will be okay.
Keith refused to entertain the possibility that Lance was anything but alive.
The team didn't feel right without Lance. There was less laughter, less joy.
When someone struggled, there was no one there to tell them exactly what they needed to hear to feel better. Keith tried to fill in the gap, but his assurances felt stiff and lifeless compared to what Lance could do.
After a few days, they had gotten some kind of rhythm down. It wasn't the same, would never be the same, but it was something. They could defend against Zarkon at least.
After a week, they had to put it to a test.
A nearby planet was flagging them down for help. The Galra had been enslaving a planet of fish people, who sent a distress beacon hoping to be rescued.
"Alright team," Shiro said with all his authority, "it should be a standard rescue mission."
The plan was for Red, Black, and Blue to fly in first. Allura would use her ice canon to freeze the Galra encampments so that they could not move. Keith and Shiro would destroy any Galra ships that managed to get off of the ground.
Green and Yellow would join in with the Fish people's forces and focus on keeping the citizens safe by whatever means necessary. The backup plan was to form Voltron if things got too tough.
Keith mused as he was piloting that Lance would have loved this planet. He was always talking about some beach back on Earth, and he was sure the planet would have filled his friend with happy memories.
The paladins moved fast, executing the plan well. Within a few minutes they'd managed to destroy half of the Galra encampments.
Suddenly Keith felt scenes being pushed into his mind. He pushed back, finding its source.
"Hey, everyone, I think Red's trying to tell me something!" Keith opened his mind to her, letting her fill his senses.
He saw what looked like an abandoned Galra base. It was charred and burnt, like it had been destroyed in a terrible accident. Keith shook the scene from his head, pushing her forward so that she continued to attack the Galra in the air.
Why would Red show me this?
He questioned her, and she pushed more scenes into his mind. It looked like he was inside the base this time. The charred black interior had nothing to show. Pieces of charred rubbish floated through the hallways.
Keith questioned Red again. He felt her stir, as though she was saying, "look." He listened to her, looking around the scene she was feeding him.
And then his heart stopped.
Floating in the hallway was a red bayard.
"Lance!" He yelled it out loud over the comms.
"Keith-what-" Shiro yelled back.
But Keith was already flying away from the planet, determined. He had a clue, finally. Keith just hoped he wasn't too late. If Lance was still at the base, he would be in bad condition. Or… his inner monologue supplied ...he'll be dead.
He wouldn't think that. Keith couldn't think that. He sped into the air, begging his lion to go faster.
"Keith! Where are you going!? We need your help!" It was Pidge, they sounded distressed.
The voice jolted Keith back into the present. He couldn't just rush off to find Lance. There were citizens in danger, who needed his help. Besides, there's no way to tell if Lance needs any ones help anymore.
"Sorry! Let's finish this quickly." He hated himself for not rushing to save Lance. Hated that his hands were tied by his duty.
"Alright, team. Form Voltron!" Shiro's voice rang out over the comms.
A/N: I think I might be getting a little bit too caught up in my own story. Sometimes I accidentally type Shiro's name as Shirpo, and the last time I did it I yelled at my computer screen "That's right, you're NOT Shiro you lying b*$t#rd!"
Needless to say, I'm a little over exuberant.
Also, on a happy note, most of the next chapter is already written, so the update should be earlier than usual tomorrow.
